21 May 2009

Controversy at Brew at the Zoo?

You may, if you're paying attention, have noticed that weird beer line-up at the Brew at the Zoo, which I reported on here.

Well, I'm not the only one who noticed the lack of local beers. Apparently the reason is being discussed in the comments to Rob Kasper's blog post about the weekend event. I just managed to discretely confirm the details with one brewer off the record.

Sheesh.

On the one hand, it's nice that we have a good and strong local beer scene. On the other hand, the Brewers Assn. of Md.'s festivals at Frederick (next Saturday, May 30th, if I need to remind you) and Timonium (Oct. 10th, part of Baltimore Beer Week by design) really dominate the central Md. beer scene, and focus strictly on Maryland beers. We could sorely use a nice any-beer-that-wants-to-show-up beer fest in the region, one that isn't hideously expensive (like SAVOR in D.C. May 30th--$95 and up, and sold out) or split in loyalties like the Beer, Bourbon & BBQ Festivals at Timonium, Richmond, DC, and elsewhere........... and we especially need one for Baltimore Beer Week, because one of the best things about Baltimore as a beer town is the diversity of beers from elsewhere (Colorado, Scotland, Japan, California, Belgium, England, Australia, etc.) available here!